Day 55 - February 23, 2004

Well the little warriors enjoyed having their freedom for a night and not being shut up in the kitten room last night. When I went to look in the kitten room this morning I was amazed to see that there was hardly any mess anywhere at all and I figured it was because they had so much more freedom. However.......the answer for that was soon brought to my attention when Graham informed me that he had been in the bathroom and the little ones had created quite a mess, even to the point where someone had gone to the toilet on the bath mat! I am so pleased that I wasn't the first one in the bathroom to see it all and hubby very kindly cleaned up everything. Not really sure I wanted to face that sort of mess first thing in the morning. I've now decided that the bathroom will be "off limits" to all babies during the night now. It had to be the Little Warriors as they are the only babies who still persist in going to the toilet in other places as well as their litter trays. Our little ones were all wormed again today which means that they aren't happy little bunnies but I'm sure they'll get over it. The worming is my revenge on their mess in the bathroom so I felt a lot better after that! All their mice have now been lost, except for one. I have searched high and low and truly do not know what they have done with any of them. The registration paperwork was sent off today for the Little Warriors so hopefully that will be back in 2-3 weeks time.

Day 54 - February 22, 2004

I am not lying when I say there is not a darn thing to report on the Little Warriors. They have not caused any trouble, destroyed anything or done anything even slightly amusing that I can share with you. All the babies have been downstairs today and have had the run of the house which they have enjoyed. Most of the little ones spent the afternoon sprawled all over the sofa and coffee tables sleeping. They woke at around 3pm for an early meal and are now back upstairs running around all over the place there. I will say though, that both Calisto and Hera will be remaining here with us as future Schimmel breeding queens. I am totally delighted with this as both girls are just wonderful and are going to be a lovely addition to the rest of our "family". I have been told though by Graham that, if I keep these 2, there will be "no more!" I guess he does have a point, although, can you ever have too many cats?? I told Gabby today that she would be having a visit by her new mum, Caryll, on Friday this coming week and Gabby was over the moon. Naturally the first thing she did was go and brag to everyone else about her new mummy coming to cuddle her again and then had the audacity to tell them it was because she was more "special" than everyone else which is typical of Gabby. I burst her bubble though and told her that if her mummy was going to be here then so would Pru's mummy which took her down a peg or two :) For those of you reading this who are not cat people or who think I'm making it up, let me assure you it is true. My babies do talk to each other, as much as they talk to me and only a fool, or a non cat person would ever believe otherwise!

Day 53 - February 21, 2004

As I write this, absolutely every baby in the house is being very quiet, some are asleep and the others are in the lounge room, playing with the TV remote, the mum's are in the kitten room upstairs and the sound of silence, apart from my tapping away on the keyboards is just heavenly. I can't even hear Tia's screaming at the moment :) Hera and Gabby have taken a great liking to "Gonzo the Gorilla" who resides on one of our lounge room chairs. Every time they are in the lounge room, they curl up on Gonzo and fall asleep. It's now the first place I look when I do a "baby count" as they are both so dark, sometimes you don't even notice that they are there. Little Gabby and Calisto are in a very purry mood today and every time you scratch under their ears they purr away like crazy. Poor little Xena fell out of the scales last night while I was weighing her. Fortunately the scales sit on the work top in the kitten room so it wasn't a large drop and the blame can be given to Gabby because as I put Xena in the scales, Gabby decided to climb up my legs, digging her claws in. Naturally I went to move her, and as I did so, Xena fell off the scales. Is it any wonder she wasn't keen to be weighed again after that! Calisto had fun today with the "feather wand". She hadn't played with that before and she was so funny to watch as she tried to catch it. The wands are toys that I would recommend for any kitten owners as the babies really do love them and it's a great way for owner to interact and bond with their new fur kids. Due to having such a bad morning today (see Tia's diary) there's no pics yet but I'll try and get them sorted out much later.

Day 52 - February 20, 2004

Some days, nothing out of the ordinary happens and today is one of those days. Just like the Charmed Ones, the Little Warriors now have "time away" from their mum during the day now. The main reason for this is because due to Tia's calling, poor Cacao has been taking on the "mother duties" for all 8 kittens now and I think she needs a break each day. The babies no longer rely on mum for their food as they all eat both wet and dry kitten food so it won't do either party any harm to have some time to themselves. It's good for Cacao to just get some time to relax and not have any "baby worries" and just to get back to being a normal cat. Both mothers are taken back upstairs now of an afternoon while the babies remain downstairs with me and so far it is working out very well indeed. The babies certainly love their independence without their mums following behind them constantly. I noticed yesterday that all 4 babies eye colour is changing now and is no longer the blue that it used to be so it looks like our little babies are starting to turn into proper little green-eyed Orientals. Gabby had her first experience with Sabre the dog this afternoon. The mums were upstairs and the door was open downstairs so the babies could wander wherever they wanted downstairs. Sabre was on one side of the door lying down, so Gabby crept along the door, sniffing under the door and then she walked up to Sabre and started sniffing Sabre's feet and her nose while Sabre just looked on and sniffed at Gabby as well. This went on for about 10 minutes and then Gabby came back in here with the other babies.

Day 51 - February 19, 2004

Our Little Warriors are hair chewers! It used to be only Calisto, however, now all 4 babies don't think twice about sitting on my shoulders during the day and chewing/pulling on my hair. Whereas the babies would play during the day and you would hear little squeals from them as they were too rough with each other, all you hear now are little squeals from me because one of them is yanking on my hair. Calisto also has this habit of putting her face right into mine and then sniffing me and giving me little cat kisses which is really lovely. We took Hera and Calisto in our bedroom for a little while last night and they had a great time running around under the bed and climbing all over the bed. Then Hera settled down on hubby and went to sleep whilst Calisto did the same with me. Fortunately, the Little Warriors are sound asleep at the moment, all on the lounge so it's peaceful here at the moment. I'm still waiting for the camera batteries to charge up so there are no photos yet so the pics will go online either much later this afternoon or tomorrow morning. Xena fell off the platform on the activity centre last night, she wasn't hurt, and it didn't stop her from getting straight back on and trying again! Gabriel, being her typical self, somehow got the hanging mouse off the activity centre again yesterday and was playing "hunt and kill" with it on the floor. I have tied it back on again now so it will be interesting to see how long she leaves it on for this time.

Day 50 - February 18, 2004

This could end up a very short entry as Calisto is lying on my arm, Hera is on my lap as is Pru which is making it rather difficult to type! Individual face shots of our Little Warriors today just for a change. The Ori babies were considerate enough to open their eyes for the photos, unlike the Charmed Ones. I learnt an important lesson last night and that is to never try and weigh the Ori babies when they are playing with their toy "mice". Not a single baby would stay still in the scales last night because as each one was being weighed, the others were on the floor playing with their mice and distracting the baby on the scales. Needless to say that last night's weights may not be entirely accurate! Calisto has a real thing about hair. She is sitting up on my shoulder again chewing my hair and has bitten me on the nose twice so far :) I'm pleased to say that there have been absolutely no toilet messes anywhere other than in the litter tray for the past 2 days now so I'm really happy about that. Looks like our Little Warriors got the hang of it in the end thank goodness.

Day 49 - February 17, 2004 (7 weeks old today!)

I didn't actually realise when I was doing yesterday's entry that it was the last entry for Week 6. I honestly don't believe how quickly the time is going by. I am sure (from what Jacqueline & Caryll told me) that time is going too slowly for the new owners, but I'm devastated that all my babies will be leaving me far too quickly. It's really amazing how quickly you can become attached to these beautiful creatures in such a short space of time. I think it's harder for me than the rest of the family as I am with them constantly and know each of them as well as I know our daughter. The one consolation is that I have had them for what I consider to be the best part of their lives as I have watched them being born and watched them change and grow and turn into the beautiful babies that they are now, each with their own special personality. The Little Warriors went to visit our vet today. As the Charmed Ones were having their vaccines, we took the Ori's along at the same time just for a quick check as they hadn't been to the vets since they were born. While we were there, I also booked them in for 2 weeks time for their first set of jabs. It's been a fairly busy day so there's not really any photos yet but I'll take some later to add here tomorrow.